Avery barely took a breath or blinked or did anything other than listen until one of his agents said, “The subject is in custody.”
Savannah broke down.
George smiled and pumped his fist.
Avery closed his eyes and exhaled.“Send in the EMTs.”
Epilogue
Sam got the full report from Avery as he drove back to the District.“He had a huge arsenal of weapons and drones, as well as enough MREs and water to last for weeks.He’d prepared for a long siege.”
“Thank God it didn’t turn into one.How are your injured agents?”
“One of our guys was hit in the vest and has a broken rib.The other, Marshal Memphis Rose Costello, is in surgery for a gunshot wound to the thigh.She’s expected to survive, but it was touch and go for a minute there.”
“Does she work with Best?”
“Yeah, one of his deputies.”
“It’s great news that no one was killed.”
“Yeah, this could’ve turned out much worse than it did.”
“I’m so relieved it’s over.”
“Me, too,” Avery said.“Are we on the news?”
“Nonstop coverage, most of it positive toward you and your team, and a rehash of all the shit about me and my history with him and Ramsey.The department is taking another beating.”
There’d been a tearful interview with Lorraine Sweeny’s family, who expressed appreciation to the FBI for apprehending the man who’d taken their loved one from them and continued disgust over the motive for her murder.
“It’ll never make sense to us why our wife, mother and grandmother was killed in such a senseless crime,” Celeste Sweeny said.“We’re extremely disappointed that Metropolitan Police officers who should’ve been keeping us safe were instead murdering innocent people.”
The department had issued a statement praising the work of the federal agents who’d brought Offenbach and Ramsey to justice.Our department will be devoted to ensuring that these lawless men spend the rest of their lives in prison,the statement had read.
“Thank you for all you and your team did to end this thing,” Sam said to Avery.“We owe you one.”
“All in a day’s work.”
“Hardly.”
“I gotta be honest.The fucking drones freaked me out, but our team was all over it and shot them down as fast as he deployed them.I’m afraid this case will serve as a how-to manual on using drones to commit crimes.”
“They’ll become a much bigger problem after this, for sure.”
“Just what we need is more big problems.”
“Don’t think about that now.Go home and be with your family, with thanks from me and my family for getting the people who threatened us.”
“I’m sorry the trail led to people you worked with.”
“As am I, but maybe this’ll be the end of the nightmare inside our house, and we can get back to fighting criminals outside our walls.”
“I hope so, for all your sakes.”
“Talk soon, Avery.”
“Take care.”
